What a big girl!

Gabriella is such a big girl now I thought I would write a couple of her latest developments. So fun!
1- She has started lining up all of her toys in a row on top of thing including the edge of her bathtub, shelves and magnet toys on the refrigerator. So silly!
2- Apparently she is afraid of nothing and has taken to launching herself off of everything that she is able to climb onto. Usually her favorite is jumping from the coffee table to the couch. We have had a couple of misses but so far that doesnt seem to have bothered her at all.
3- Latest words; Doggy, water, snack, Jessica, Megy (still working on the names of the rest of the family) her signing vocabulary is also getting bigger and bigger. What a smarty pants!
4- She gives the biggest hugs to her dad and I and smiles and grins and is so happy. She also gives us many good kisses and if she cant get a kiss to our lips will kiss our arm or shoulder or whatever she can reach.
5- She has just in the past few weeks decided to start waking up at around 6:30. This makes for a very sleepy mommy but it is also a fun time cause Gabs and I just curl up on the couch and watch her "shows" which include all baby Einsteins, Signing Time, Super Why and Word World. Man I have learned a lot! My spelling is twice as good as it used to be. Its like being in school all over again.

Terrible Two's

Okay so I never knew that the terrible twos actually started way before they were actually two. What has happened to my sweet little girl and who is this squealing, crying, whining monster? She looks like my girl but besides that I barely recognize her. Of course we have our good moments which are basically anytime I am doing exactly what she wants which a mom can only keep up for so long. I know we will make it through this hard time but I highly doubt I will be able to do so with all of my mental faculties intact. Here are some photos that help to remind me that inside my little demon is a sweet fun girl.

Merry Christmas...to me

Well its that time of year again. Here is a little preview of our Christmas card. It was hard to get just the right shot but I think this one of us is pretty amazing..

Poor baby..

Gabriella has had a really rough last week. In that time she has managed to fall down a flight of stairs, fall off a chair and split her lip open, had the flu, split her lip on the coffee table and finally today fell on her face on the sidewalk and split her lip open again. Eegads! Seriously she obviously takes after her mother who is also very accident prone. Every time her lips get cut I get very queasy though thinking about her teeth getting broken. I nearly pass out every time but thankfully to date no broken teeth. I feel so bad for her but she is a trooper and usually gets right back up and keeps on going. Gotta love that little girl. Here are some pics of some happier moments and before the fat lip.

Fun with the girls!

Here are pictures from this weekend with the family. So fun to see everyone! Love you!

Yesterday Jessica and I along with Gabriella went to Richfield to be with Megan when she opened her mission call. Holy cow my sister is going on a mission! That is just so freaking rad. Yes I said rad! She is going to the Mesa Arizona mission where she will be at the temple visitors center. How fabulous is that! We are so excited for her and cant wait to hear about the next 18 months of amazing experiences as Im sure there will be many. It was a fun day with sisters and mom and dad. We all just chatted, ate and chatted some more. All the while of course Gabriella was getting loved to bits. The family was admiring her ability to walk, without holding onto anything, down the stairs. She is a little daredevil and has scared me to death a few times but it seems as if the more challenging something is the more she loves doing it. This afternoon she managed to fall down the entire flight of stairs and hit pretty much everything on the way down. Poor dear has a little bloody lip and was very sad but after about 4 minutes she was good as new and started chasing the dog around. I just wish I could bounce back that fast. She really is amazing and is such a big girl. Very independent and very brave. She will try anything and seems to be completely fearless. She is talking up a storm and has started saying cracker, shoes, please, baby and binky amongst all the other words she already says. She loves to be chased by daddy and will run screaming through the house until he catches her and then laughs so hard.

Today as I was on the computer Gabriella brought out the garbage can from our room and proceded to empty it out, blow her nose on some used tissues (ick) and just had some fun. After she was done she picked all the garbage back up, put it in the garbage can and put the garbage can back in the same spot in our room. I didnt even realize what she had done until I went into the room and saw the garbage can back where it belonged. On top of this I handed her a package to be thrown away and asked her to throw it in the garbage. She went into our room and I just figured she put it somewhere and I would just throw it away later. Low and behold the item was right where it should have been, in the garbage. She is amazing! I am seriously astounded at how smart she is... and also how tidy she is. Hmmm... looks like Ill have some help with the chores soon. We love this little lady of ours.

Fall photoshoot and updates!

So as some of you know when Brian and I were married we were still waiting on my temple sealing cancellation and so had to get married civilly since the process was taking so long. Finally about 4 months ago we received the cancellation and on Friday we were sealed as a family in the St. George Temple. Halleluah! We have been waiting on this for so long and are so grateful and excited to be officially an eternal family. We were joined by our family and some dear friends. Small but perfect for us. Gabriella looked like a little angel! Of course with blessings come trials and that night Gabriella started throwing up after her cousins also had been sick all day and to date Brian, Grandma, Megan, Uncle Jonathon and I have all been sick. Ugh! Brian was up all night last night throwing up and Gabriella is just now starting to feel better. Rough weekend! So grateful for the blessings and we will just ignore the other crappy events. Here are also some family photos we took last week. Thanks uncle Jesse!